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Portman Announces Unemployment Insurance Agreement
Extension Is Completely Paid for, Will Open the Door to
Significant and Necessary Reforms
Special to The Truth
Last week, U.S.
Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) announced that a bipartisan
group of lawmakers has reached an agreement on extending
unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed who have
gone without relief since December 28, 2013. Portman played
a key role in ensuring the bill is fully paid for, that it
is short-term, and that it includes reforms to the broken
program that’s failing to connect Americans with jobs.
“This agreement is the first step toward reforming a broken program
into a safety net that helps the unemployed quickly reenter
the workforce and get back on their feet,” Portman stated.
“I’m especially pleased we were able to find a way to pay
for the extension so that we’re not adding to our record
debt. The President called for a ‘year of action’ and I hope
that in the months to come, as we look for a long-term
solution, he joins us in proposing significant reforms to
this program.”
This new legislation seeks to strengthen the U.S. economy while
providing vulnerable job seekers and their families with a
vital lifeline as they continue to look for work. The
proposal is fully paid for using a combination of offsets
that includes extending pension smoothing provisions from
the 2012 highway bill (MAP-21), which were set to phase out
this year, and extending customs user fees through 2024.
The bill also includes an additional offset allowing
single-employer pension plans to prepay their flat rate
premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Further, the legislation includes a provision modeled on Senators
Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) and Jon Tester’s (D-MT) language that
ends unemployment insurance payments to any individual whose
adjusted gross income in the preceding year was $1 million
or more. According to 2010 income tax data, there were 0.03
percent of filers that earned over $1 million and received
some form of UI at either the state or federal level. This
provision received unanimous support in the Senate when it
was voted on in 2011.
The legislative proposal also includes language championed by
Portman to provide individuals receiving unemployment
insurance benefits with early access to specific strategies
that can help get them back into the workforce faster,
including through access to information about
industry-recognized credentials that are regionally relevant
or nationally portable. In addition, this proposal includes
language by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) to strengthen
reemployment and eligibility assessment (REA) and
ReEmployment Services (RES) programs. In an effort to help
get job seekers back into the workforce, individuals
receiving emergency unemployment compensation will be
eligible for enhanced, personalized assessments and
referrals to reemployment services when they begin their
27th week of UI (Tier I) and 55th week of UI (Tier III).
In addition, the legislative proposal includes language proposed by
Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require a Government
Accountability Office (GAO) report to ensure that
unemployment insurance benefits are being provided to
individuals who are actively looking for work and who truly
want to return to the labor force.
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